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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 28, 2025

Microinjection for Transgenesis and Genome Editing in Threespine Sticklebacks

Microinjection for Transgenesis and Genome Editing in Threespine Sticklebacks

Published on: May 13, 2016

Intercontinental genomic parallelism in multiple three-spined stickleback adaptive radiations.

Isabel S Magalhaes^1,2, James R Whiting^3,4, Daniele D'Agostino⁵

¹School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK. isabel.magalhaes@roehampton.ac.uk.

Nature Ecology & Evolution

|December 1, 2020

Summary

Genomic parallelism in stickleback fish radiations predicts adaptation. Similar environments, not just similar traits, drive parallel evolution from standing genetic variation across continents.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Genomics
Ecology

Background:

Parallelism, the evolution of similar traits in similar conditions, offers insights into adaptation by natural selection.
Previous studies often used predefined environments, potentially overestimating parallelism.
Understanding genomic parallelism requires analyzing continuous environmental and phenotypic variation.

Purpose of the Study:

To estimate genomic parallelism across intercontinental freshwater adaptive radiations of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).
To associate genome-wide allele frequencies with continuous environmental and phenotypic variation.
To determine predictors of genomic parallelism at a large geographic scale.

Main Methods:

Large-scale biological sampling and phenotyping of 1,380 three-spined sticklebacks from 73 freshwater and 4 marine populations.
Restriction site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) to generate genome-wide allele frequency data.
Statistical association of allele frequencies with continuous environmental and phenotypic data.

Main Results:

Quantitative variation in phenotypes and environments can predict genomic parallelism.
Genomic parallelism in early adaptive radiations is based on standing genetic variation.
Environmental similarity is a stronger predictor of genome-wide parallelism than phenotypic similarity.

Conclusions:

Environmental and phenotypic factors significantly predict genomic divergence patterns.
Continuous variation analysis provides a clearer understanding of genomic parallelism than dichotomous approaches.
This study highlights the predictive power of environmental factors in shaping parallel evolution.